April 24th, 2022 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US AT 10 AM TODAY!
Transcription Notes:
We are starting a BRAND NEW topic today. We are going to study the Gifts of the Spirit…I figured, we already covered the HARDEST topics we could ever talk about as a church so why not go for easy ones like prophecy, healing, miracles, and speaking in tongues?!
A few introductory concepts to help frame our focus here:
Why are we talking about this?
It’s in scripture AND
We are seeing some of the more revelatory gifts bubble up in our church.
And there are some in our congregation who have been operating in them that feel hindered, or unable to practice their gifts freely.
Not because anybody had confronted them but because there just isn’t a lot of that expression and they aren’t sure if it’s okay.
We want to open up the scriptures intentionally and see what God says about it.
SO, we are going to focus on the supernatural gifts during the next few weeks to shed light them and understand them better. SO THEN…
Why are we focusing on the supernatural gifts in particular?
They are the ones that are controversial
…people tend to question & misunderstand them the most.
They are the ones we need explained more…
we all get why the gift of administration is needed or teaching but we question these ones
TAKE A QUICK SURVEY
NOTES:
Check Slack for Court
Write Tim back
Answer Erin McDade
Reply to Dave Bunting
When I first came to church, and became a christian, it was a very small, very baptist expression of church and they did not believe the gifts of the spirit were active today. There is a term for this position: “CESSATIONISM” because they believe these gifts HAD a season and that season has CEASED.
As I continued to attend, this became a problem because I was reading the bible (specifically the Gospel of John first then Acts). Both record supernatural events like healings, visions, dreams, wisdom from given by God.
BUT MORE THAN THAT…I had EXPERIENCED supernatural things in my own life: dreams, visions, divine appointments, direct encounters with demons…
in fact, these experiences were a LARGE part of the reason I was going to church at all!
So, as I was engaging the bible, it was not theoretical, it resonated and caused me to think:
“Oh that tracks…I’VE talked to a foul spirit or…
I had a prophetic picture or
I’ve been visited by an angel in a dream and it WAS terrifying, and the message was clear ‘stop living the way I was living and go find a church.’” so the GOOD FRUIT was there too!
In fact, I had been having these encounters well before I went to church and the bible was giving me the LANGUAGE and SPIRITUAL FRAMEWORK to make sense of the things I had experienced.
EVEN though the spiritual authority figures in my life were saying “that doesn’t happen anymore.”
At the time, I didn’t realize there were other traditions with different ideas on these topics though I was secretly thinking: “I don’t know if I agree with you on this!”
A few months later, my best friend briefly dated a girl whose father was the pastor at a FourSquare church in our small town that was a very, VERY charismatic church and she invited us to come check it out one Sunday morning. It was my FIRST experience with this kind of church.
Lady leading music began to speak in tongues, then moan, then yell, the scream at the top of her lungs into an already amplified microphone…I was terrified!
To make things worse the girl that invited us saw my discomfort and offered this word of encouragement: “It’s not as weird if you just join in and try it.”
NOPE! I’ve seen movies that start like this and it don’t end well for the visitors.
I finally leaned over and told my friend, I’m leaving and, if anybody tries to get in my way, I’m going to push them down and we are going to run to the car.
Luckily, it didn’t come to that but it planted this seed of doubt in me about these things that was hard to shake.
So, here I am - in an “in-between” space that didn’t seem to fit either side of this coin…I still feel like that sometimes.
Maybe you’ve felt like this too:
We want to take the Holy Spirit seriously but there has to be some ordered way to go about it.
We wonder: what kind of Checks and balances do we have at our disposal to make sure we aren’t running off the rails or abandoned to our own emotionalism??
ALL OF US WANT to see the POWER of the Holy Spirit blowing through our church but maybe we have seen some:
ABUSES of the Spirit
Benny Hinn was caught faking his events…
Slain in the spirit “pushes”
Maybe there’s some disappointment
We prayed and prayed, with as much faith, as we could muster but it didn’t happen
BUT I want to point out something…
we abuse grace all the time and we don’t stop teaching it,
we make mistakes and missteps with other gifts (in hospitality, administrators, teachers) but we don’t give up, we practice make adjustments and get better.
ALL OF US WANT to see the POWER of the Holy Spirit but, perhaps, we just don’t know what we don’t know.
I just want to begin by acknowledging that none of us sets out thinking: “TODAY, we are going to quench the fire of the Holy Spirit.”
But…is it POSSIBLE
…that maybe we have been LULLED to sleep a little bit?
That the muscle of faith can get weak if we don’t exercise it much?
I mean who relies on the Holy Spirit when your first gut instinct is to
lean on your own understanding,
stick to your own ability to logically figure things out, or
If we have such prosperity that we can buy our way out of any and every situation.
In short…I think what I’m trying to convey is “HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE OF THE GIFTS of the HOLY SPIRIT??”
If you’ve ever wondered this, then THIS IS YOUR SERIES…and it’s helpful to know that the first century church seemed to have the same exact question so they wrote the Apostle Paul to ask about the gifts and WE HAVE HIS ANSWER recorded in a letter that he wrote. Turn to 1 Cor. chapter 12 and we will see his answer…
1 Corinthians 12
1 Now about the gifts of the Spirit, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. 3 Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus be cursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
As I mentioned, Paul is addressing a topic CLEARLY raised by the Corinthians in their previous letter to him. From what we know, it seems that the Corinthian services were:
somewhat disorderly and
possibly equating spiritual maturity to ecstatic manifestations and the exercising of the more spectacular gifts.
This small section is the intro to a THREE CHAPTER LONG answer to their inquiry which roughly tells us (we won’t go through all of it):
Chapter 12 conveys the need for diversity of gifts within the unity of the body and puts an emphasis on the fact that all gifts come from one and the same Spirit.
Chapter 13 stresses that without love, all the gifts are worthless.
Chapter 14 then focuses on two of the more controversial gifts—prophecy and tongues— giving further guidelines for the use of each so as to promote an orderly service (we will come back to these).
Now, we can’t go any further without understanding just a little bit about the Holy Spirit:
CGNE Statement of Faith: “The Holy Spirit is the present and active Being and power of God that fills and comforts those obedient to Jesus Christ and empowers and guides God’s people to live into the mission of the Kingdom of God.”
Since this isn’t a series on the HS so I’m going to give you a VERY quick overview that I’m going to call it “The Holy Spirit in TWO PHASES: The Promise and Purpose of the HS.”
FIRST, The Promise
Jesus told us that He was sending the Holy Spirit in detail in John chapter 14 but a succinct version is told to us in…
Luke 24:46-49. It says, “He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and RISE FROM THE DEAD on the third day, 47 and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are WITNESSES of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
Then Luke TIES this together with it’s fulfillment in Acts 2:32-33 on the day of Pentecost. Which says this: “God has RAISED this Jesus TO LIFE, and we are all WITNESSES of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”
Okay, so something NEW happens, a shift in operation takes place in the working (not the existence of) but the WORKING of the Holy Spirit who was promised to us!
…and He comes in a way that is consistent with the Spirit’s presence in the Old Testament.
Whereas God presented himself in areas and locations:
Ex 19:18 says, “Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire…”
NOW, the Spirit dwells NOT on a location, NOT on a mountain, NOT a building, tent, tabernacle, or temple or even just hovering in the atmosphere but on PEOPLE and individuals! Remember:
Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
The Spirit falls on ALL of them!
Now OUR BODIES are the temple and we are filled with the presence of God’s Spirit…mobile temples, scattered, and empowered to proclaim good news!
Do you see the connection?? SO, the Renewed Covenant is USHERED in via the Promise of the Holy Spirit and it comes in a dramatic FORCE!
So, that’s the PROMISE.
NEXT is the PURPOSE of the HS:
The PURPOSE is certainly multifaceted and includes (but is not limited to):
Teaching us
Anointing us
Speaking to us
Renewing our minds
Convicting us
Sanctifying us
Saving
Enlightening and
GIVING REVELATION
For our purposes today, He gives out gifts or “graces” as we will see, for the benefit of 2 COMMUNITIES: the CHURCH and OTHERS!
He enables and empowers us to love BETTER than we can love on our own (this is what Ch. 13 is all about!) and to be on mission.
Jesus said, you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you and you will be my witness in J, J/S, to the ends of the earth.
Tongues catalyze this immediately!
Supernatural demonstrations, dreams, and visions
(WHY?!) Because they have the ability to create breakthroughs in missional advancement where other means might fail (like logical arguments and skepticism create a barrier for those who struggle to come to know Jesus.
So, the HS helps us to love each other better and be on mission together
One important thing:
We believe that the HS indwells those who have saving faith in Jesus at the point of salvation.
Renewed mind which animates and informs your imagination & mind.
But there does seem to be times when the HS Fills, Pours Out, etc in extra measure to accomplish a task or assignment.
In THE TEXT we read today, we learn that:
FIRST, that the Holy Spirit is living and active in our lives UNLIKE the idols that the Corinthians USED to worship before they knew Jesus and…
SECOND, That there will be a HS CONSISTENCY for those being led by Him. SO:
they will never curse God and, likewise,
they cannot profess “God as lord” without the prompting of the Spirit.
Alright, everyone got the Holy Spirit figured out?? Great!!
As we continue reading in verse 4, we learn:
4 There are DIFFERENT KINDS of gifts (The word “Charisma” means…), but the SAME Spirit distributes them. 5 There are DIFFERENT kinds of service, but the SAME Lord. 6 There are DIFFERENT kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the SAME GOD AT WORK.
7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good…(LIST OF EACH GIFT)
…11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
SO, As Paul continues to teach on
THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT:
He is setting this straight by establishing, right at the beginning, that the gifts are a diversity NOT a division and not a hierarchy.
No matter how diverse or different, the SAME HOLY SPIRIT IS INVOLVED so there will be a continuity across them and they won’t disagree or contradict.
No matter how diverse, there is no hierarchy attached to the gifts and the HS distributes them as He wills!
The Gifts are meant to
Increase our Devotion to God
Increase the edification and unification of our Community:
Increase the Missional capacity:
Break down barriers.
Dezi and the tree
In first verses of 1 Cor. it mentioned Paul the coming with a demonstration of power
Positions on this <PICTURE>:
Cessationism
Believe the Gifts of the Spirit were a season but have ceased:
At the end of the Apostolic age
When the canon of scripture finalized
Functional Cessationism
You don’t agree with cessationism but you operate as if they have ceased by giving no credence or emphasis to the gifts.
Open but Cautious
Believe the gifts are active
Concerned about abuses or maybe even a little fearful that things might get too weird.
The gifts might be there but they are by-and-large the exception not the rule.
Curious w/out Practicing
Interested enough to want to learn/know more but it’s theoretical and you aren’t attempting to operate or practice intentionally.
Pursuing and Practicing
Believe in the gifts, you are actively pursuing more understanding on this AND
You are practicing them but desire clear boundaries
Practicing without Boundaries
Seeking after the gifts
Do not care to know or apply scriptural guidelines for them.
Charismaniac
Openly abandoned to the gifts with no checks and balances.
Regularly spiritualizes everything they do/say
Rejoice in the power over God
Believe people are not saved unless they display the manifestation gifts
Where will we teach from?
Well our statement of faith already affirms the operation of the gifts today AND
If you notice, the far ends are very exclusionary positions:
“if you don’t believe or agree with me, then you are depicted as wrong”
So we are going to chop of the far ends!
“Okay, so in the comfortable middle?” NO..not that either.
Remember: Many of us (not all of us but many) live in a context where two things dominate our worldview:
Post-enlightenment/ modernism where materialism and the scientific method are enthroned.
HOUSE/ATTIC ANALOGY
I think we come in with our expectations are pretty low that the Holy Spirit will show up and that any of these gifts will be engaged on a regular basis.
In fact, a Barna Study says that “nearly 60% of Americans who regularly attend Christan churches say there is no such thing as the Holy Spirit - they say the Holy Spirit is just a symbol of God’s power or presence or purity.)
FATHER SON, HOLY BIBLE
NOW, we believe the bible is of the highest importance! That “both Old and New Testaments, are inspired by God and are the Divine authority for all Christian faith and life.”
Everything we do, in regards to the gifts, are filtered through:
the WORD of God
Nobody gets to have final authority but the bible - no “thus saith the Lord.”
Sometimes we act like a single winged plane with Spirit & Truth!
Through LOVE and
Through UNITY
Because we just read that “the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”
SO, where will we teach from?
I am going to encourage, urge, maybe PROD FIRMLY a little bit here and there that we move Further to right on scale to “Pursuing AND Practicing” with boundaries as prescribed by the Scripture.
We will start our pursuit through this teaching!
I think we should move into the intentional PRACTICE of these gifts:
I am (and have been) praying and asking God to pour out His Spirit in fresh new ways at CGNE.
This is the REASON we began hosting “Encountering God” nights so there would be a safe place to practice - maybe mess up - and continue learning!
I operate in some of these gifts pretty freely at CGNE and have given many of you words, pictures, or even dreams that I believed the Lord has given me for you…
Can I be wrong at times? Yes
I always hold it with an open hand and ask you to discern it
I didn’t use this gift because I had to shed the chains of cessationism
I didn’t use this gift because I had to shed the chains of a fear of man
Then I hid this gift for many years because it was deemed inappropriate in the church contexts I led in
I’m through with that and I have not encountered it here at CGNE.
I think our position is likely in the Functional Cessationism or Open but Cautious
And we need the light the fire of pursuit under us or as Paul states in the end of this chapter, “eagerly desire the gifts!”
Here is my ask of you today:
Don’t take your discernment hat on but understand that we are people of faith and filled with the Holy Spirit so it won’t always make sense in our material/rational sensibilities.
be honest with your location as a westerner and get really curious about the things up in the attic!
Search your heart:
Where have you stunted the Spirits work in your life?
Have your expectations been too low?
Are you willing raise those expectations? Are you willing to join me in praying the dangerous prayer of “MORE GOD.” We want more of you and your Spirit Lord.
Then, hold on, strap your seat belt on, whatever you’ll need, because if he says yes, it’s going to get a little wild in here.
WE
Because, if we start to fly with BOTH wings? Truth AND Spirit?
You start to see healings, and miracles, your faith won’t be boring anymore, gatherings won’t be boring, you will eagerly anticipate the next time you can come into the community of believers!!
I believe we will see a shift and increase in our fruitfulness as a church because we will be operating with the wind of the Spirit and the power of God propelling us toward the realization of the Kingdom of God here with our little church!!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
“Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.